[QUOTE=Nerdeboy;17066001]Lankist, you're reading horror books wrong. Unless you've been previously truly frightened by a horror book and are unable to get over a previous fear and never want to relive that feeling, you shouldn't be reading books by thinking, "Everything in this book is fictional and nothing can hurt me."[/QUOTE]
But Lovecraft's stories are practically telling you "I'm a book, everything is just fiction" because the threats are not grounded in reality, they are just floating tentacle monsters.
Verbose language is best used in the context of a verbose character. It easily represents very methodical archetypes like that of, say, a serial killer.
[QUOTE=Lankist;17066038]And you DO look out your window thinking a giant tentacle monster is going to eat your soul?[/QUOTE]
Have you even read any Lovecraft, Lankist?
Basically the whole point behind every story is, "Ignorance is bliss." A tentacle monster IS going to eat my soul any moment from now. Good thing I don't know that or I'd be fucking freaking out right now.
[QUOTE=Nerdeboy;17066086]You're walking into every Lovecraftian novel knowing the character is going to go insane at one point or another, and there's your problem. It's subtle enough that if you've never read Lovecraft's works before, you'll not be able to recognize the insanity until later. But when you approach it as a story where some nutty professor flips out, you'll see the character become mentally unstable the second it happens. Of course it's a bit of a curse of knowledge with his books, but you need to approach each of his stories as a new experience instead of "just another Lovecraft."[/QUOTE]
So his novels are only good if you've never read one?
That's not MY fault. That's HIS fault for being a shitty author.
[QUOTE=Lankist;17066063]Verbose literature is by no means antiquated. Darkly Dreaming Dexter was an extremely verbose piece of literature, and it was entirely capable of making the reader question the concepts of sanity.
The third one sucked major balls though.[/QUOTE]
I admit I phrased that wrong. I should have said "antiquated writing is generally verbose"
[QUOTE=Lankist;17066114]So his novels are only good if you've never read one?
That's not MY fault. That's HIS fault for being a shitty author.[/QUOTE]
Don't listen to him. That was a stupid argument.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;17066102]Have you even read any Lovecraft, Lankist?
Basically the whole point behind every story is, "Ignorance is bliss." A tentacle monster IS going to eat my soul any moment from now. Good thing I don't know that or I'd be fucking freaking out right now.[/QUOTE]
See that's the circular pseudo-religious logic. If I wanted to be frightened by malevolent superbeings I'd go to church or something. But I don't and I honestly can't. That sort of stuff doesn't scare me and it doesn't scare anyone who has explored their own personal fears further than that which goes bump in the night.
Pay attention to me.
[QUOTE=Lankist;17066114]So his novels are only good if you've never read one?
That's not MY fault. That's HIS fault for being a shitty author.[/QUOTE]
Sorry, it appears I'm not getting my point across.
[QUOTE=Lankist;17066114]So his novels are only good if you've never read one?
That's not MY fault. That's HIS fault for being a shitty author.[/QUOTE]
He isn't a shitty author because you don't like his works. What it seems we're doing here is arguing over an opinion. We might as well decide blueberry pie is superior and then have a fight about it.
[QUOTE=Wordsworth;17066146]Pay attention to me.[/QUOTE]
Ok. EDIT: You were right about Slenderman, by the way.
[QUOTE=Wordsworth;17066146]Pay attention to me.[/QUOTE]
Go.
[QUOTE=Nerdeboy;17066153]Sorry, it appears I'm not getting my point across.[/QUOTE]
Not really, that's what I got from your speech too.
[QUOTE=Lankist;17066139]See that's the circular pseudo-religious logic. If I wanted to be frightened by malevolent superbeings I'd go to church or something. But I don't and I honestly can't. That sort of stuff doesn't scare me and it doesn't scare anyone who has explored their own personal fears further than that which goes bump in the night.[/QUOTE]
I have a personal fear of being shot by MS-13, but that doesn't mean reading a book about someone being shot by MS-13 scary.
[QUOTE=Gorgonoth;17066160]He isn't a shitty author because you don't like his works. What it seems we're doing here is arguing over an opinion. We might as well decide blueberry pie is superior and then have a fight about it.[/QUOTE]
Apple pie is better than blueberry.
[QUOTE=Gorgonoth;17066160]He isn't a shitty author because you don't like his works. What it seems we're doing here is arguing over an opinion. We might as well decide blueberry pie is superior and then have a fight about it.[/QUOTE]
No it's Lankist, everything he argues is correct, duh.
Even matter of whether an author is good
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;17066169]I have a personal fear of being shot by MS-13, but that doesn't mean reading a book about someone being shot by MS-13 scary.[/QUOTE]
It could be if it was well written.
[QUOTE=Negrul1;17066182]It could be if it was well written.[/QUOTE]
No it couldn't.
At least it would never scare me. I dunno about you or anyone else.
[QUOTE=Wordsworth;17066168]Not really, that's what I got from your speech too.[/QUOTE]
I was trying to say that when you realize that a formula writer is a formula writer and you apply that formula to all his works, he isn't as interesting as before. Take Dan Brown for instance. I disliked Deception Point because I knew that Dan Brown wrote all his novels the same way, and the very way he wrote them, but my friend loved it because he didn't know what Dan Brown's formula was.
These spam topics do not abide by the rules. They are terrifying and unnatural, not to mention unexplainable.
I honestly think the more inhuman something is, the less scary it is.
Any human form disfigured or screwed up in some way is scary because you can relate it to what it was and why it's like that.
Chtulu is a giant four legged winged squid.
[QUOTE=BaconDioxide;17066220]not to mention unexplainable.[/QUOTE]
I can explain them. Someone's an asshole.
[QUOTE=BaconDioxide;17066220]These spam topics do not abide by the rules. They are terrifying and unnatural, not to mention unexplainable.[/QUOTE]
Like Cthulhu. They are also not scary. Like cthulhu.
[QUOTE=Negrul1;17066238]Like Cthulhu. They are also not scary. Like cthulhu.[/QUOTE]
omg what's scary is a matter of opinion wtf no way
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;17066169]I have a personal fear of being shot by MS-13, but that doesn't mean reading a book about someone being shot by MS-13 scary.[/QUOTE]
That's not what I'm implying.
The way to frighten people is to first create a character and an environment the reader relates to. Let's say, writing three chapters about a man like you living in a house like yours with subtle and slow progression toward the MS-13. The next step is to shift that reality into something alien, but still using that original sympathetic setting as an anchor for the reader. The final step is to finally incite that fear that, now in this sympathetic alien environment, seems entirely possible to the reader.
You're oversimplifying the concept. What Lovecraft too often does is he jumps into the alien setting far too quickly, with no anchor to reality. Floating a boat into a spooky boat town isn't frightening unless you've first established the setting's progression from a realistic world into a foreign one.
[QUOTE=Negrul1;17066238]Like Cthulhu. They are also not scary. Like cthulhu.[/QUOTE]
I think Cthulhu is scary in the same way Godzilla is.
It's a giant horrible monster and I'd hate to own properity in the city it decides to attack.
It's not all that scary.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;17066227]I can explain them. Someone's an asshole.[/QUOTE]
But can you explain the use of the admin-only post icon?
[QUOTE=Wordsworth;17066223]Chtulu is a giant four legged winged squid.[/QUOTE]
Technically it's not a squid.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;17066243]omg what's scary is a matter of opinion wtf no way[/QUOTE]
Do you honestly get scared by a giant dragon shaped tentacle monster squid man? I don't.
[QUOTE=BaconDioxide;17066274]But can you explain the use of the admin-only post icon?[/QUOTE]
mm3guy told everyone how to do that a while ago.
[editline]01:24PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Negrul1;17066276]Do you honestly get scared by a giant dragon shaped tentacle monster squid man? I don't.[/QUOTE]
Way to ignore every detail of the mythos.
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